The Room That Must Never Be Opened
"Yes, I'm human. Who are you?"
"Huh? If you're human, you stand in front of the door and look someone in the eye when you talk. What's the point of speaking from beside the door?"
But it was terrifying. How could anyone think a human reduced to nothing but a head was normal?
"How am I supposed to know whether you're an anomaly or not? You're just a head."
"Fair point. Just talk from there, then. Coward."
The head let out a sigh and opened its mouth again.
"Haa. Who are you? Where'd you come from? Someone from another branch?"
"...No. I'm a student who showed up for a part-time job that promised a million won just for taking an interview. I only followed the rulebook left behind by an employee named Seo In-seo."
"What? Well, at least that's a relief. I'm the employee who left half of that rulebook—Seo In-seo. I'm not an anomaly or anything like that. Come out in front of the door already and show yourself."
Really? For real? Senior Seo In-seo was going to turn up in a place like this?
"I can't believe that. Show me solid proof."
I couldn't trust it. This had to be some anomaly's trick. How was a person supposed to survive as nothing but a head?
I should ask for advice.
"I'll believe you."
I trusted the deputy admin's word. Stepping out from the door, I revealed myself to her.
I came face to face with Senior Seo In-seo. Even reduced to nothing but a head, her features were strikingly beautiful—beautiful enough that the rest of her body almost seemed unnecessary.
"Ugh."
"What's wrong?"
"Suddenly got this creepy feeling... Anyway, nice to meet you. My name is Seo In-seo."
"Why are you only a head?"
"I paid the price. That was the price."
Anomalies can do that kind of thing?
"You look like you can't believe it, so I'll show you myself. Hold my head for me."
I lifted her head as requested.
"Press that part and enter the numbers as I call them out."
I moved in the direction she indicated and worked the buttons.
A deep mechanical rumble answered. A hidden space in the corner of the room revealed itself—a sleek, curved machine that looked like something out of a science-fiction film.
"What is this?"
"A Causality Generator. Also called a Rule Generator."
"And that is...?"
"We use it to weaken anomalies. We impose rules on them and drag them down to a level humans can understand."
So this was the method the deputy admin had mentioned for weakening anomalies. Given that the Management Bureau ruled humanity from the shadows, I'd expected them to have something like this.
"If you have a broken item like this, how did the Management Bureau get completely overrun?"
I couldn't understand how an organization with a cheat device like this had been so thoroughly conquered.
"What we weakened was that thing. The causality we imposed by offering up my body and Hong-cheol's."
"What? Then what about the rulebook?"
"The causal relationship changed. Originally there was no rulebook. Or more precisely, there was no means of suppressing the anomaly at all."
Wait. That meant—
"Originally it spread through text messages and broadcasts. You'd hear a broadcast, and a mannequin would form behind your back. Whatever body part the broadcast named would transfer over to the mannequin. One-sided. Unstoppable. Completely unpredictable. I've never seen or heard of an anomaly like this. Why did something like this appear? Why did causality get twisted?"
Senior Seo In-seo muttered to herself. Just listening to the explanation was enough to make the wrongness crawl under my skin. This wasn't merely an anomaly—it was cosmic horror.
"Outside the testing site, I've never heard a broadcast. And there's nothing about it in the rulebook either."
"Hong-cheol must have forced a new rule in."
"Where did Lee Hong-cheol go?"
"No idea. We'll have to look for him."
Senior Seo In-seo closed her mouth and sighed. Even as nothing but a head—even without lungs—she breathed without trouble and spoke without any problem.
"Fine. No choice, then. You there—are you prepared to sacrifice yourself for humanity?"
Senior Seo In-seo clenched her teeth. Did she mean for me to offer up my existence by using the Causality Generator? But even if I sacrificed myself, it wouldn't resolve the situation. Using the generator would only buy time.
"No. We have to resolve this ourselves."
"Why?"
"Every other country's Management Bureau branch has been swallowed by the anomaly. We're the only survivors left in the Bureau. More precisely, the only intact 'employee' is you, Senior Seo In-seo. The rest of us are just part-timers."
"...What?"
"The United States, France, Japan, China, Brazil, even the Antarctic base—none of them are answering. They've all been eaten in reverse by the anomaly."
"...Nngh."
Emotion surged; Senior Seo In-seo bit down on her lip. Her last hope had shattered, and her mental state had hit rock bottom.
Senior looking like she's about to cry is cute.
I wanted to take a picture. She'd make perfect daughter material. With superhuman self-control, I crushed the impulse.
She's not an anomaly. That would be rude.
I was a human with common sense. I didn't do things that would be rude to another human.
"Sorry. I got too worked up."
"It's fine. Anyone would."
I calmed her down and beckoned to Eun-hwa waiting in the hallway.
"Let me introduce you. This is Senior Seo In-seo. She's the one who made the rulebook."
"Y-yeees..."
Eun-hwa went white at the sight of Senior Seo In-seo reduced to a head. She hovered near the door as if she might bolt at any second.
"You're right. We can't lose hope until the very end. Sorry. Let's go save humanity together."
Senior Seo In-seo pulled herself together. She was finally in a state fit for conversation.
"Do you know how to get down to the tenth basement floor?"
"There is no tenth basement floor. It should say so in the rulebook."
What? He said there was one.
My faith in the deputy admin was thinning by the second. No stairs leading underground, and no tenth basement floor either? What did this guy even know? Was he really a Management Bureau agent? He probably was. Most of what he said had been right—just limited to the first floor.
"Do you know a department head named Lee Gukdo?"
"Lee Gukdo? Never heard of him. Don't know anyone like that."
"Is that just because you haven't been with the Bureau long?"
"I've been here more than ten years. And I've never heard of a department head by that name."
More than ten years and still a regular employee? I quietly revised my evaluation of Senior Seo In-seo a notch downward.
"Alright. Senior, do you know any way to resolve the current situation?"
"..."
Nothing. This senior had no plan either. I sighed and started turning the problem over in my head. My trust in the deputy admin had hit rock bottom. I would have to resolve this without his help. Trying to handle everything alone without the gallery's support made my brain feel like it was about to seize up.
"Okay. Now that we know it's an anomaly that operates through broadcasts, let's head to the broadcast room. Do you know where the building's control room is?"
"Yeah, I know. Head the way I tell you."
Cradling Senior Seo In-seo's head against my chest, I left the room.
"Eek."
"Don't get scared over something this small. Oh, right—you said you're part-timers. Sorry."
"Then where did all the anomalies that were stored here go? Other than the ones on the first floor, there's nothing left."
"No idea. I don't remember anything after we activated the machine."
What did she even know? I revised my evaluation of Senior Seo In-seo even further downward.
"Then what's that place?"
I pointed at a room. It was the only room on the ninth floor with the lights on. Lights on meant there was an anomaly inside.
That has to be it—the room at the end of the ninth floor that the rulebook says you must never enter.
It was the room that held the World-Destroying Class anomaly mentioned in the rulebook.
"...Let's open it and check."
"You said a World-Destroying Class anomaly is sealed in there."
"It should be neutralized by now. Probably."
I trusted Senior Seo In-seo's word. I set my hand on the handle and turned the knob.
"A woman?"
She was about a hundred and fifty centimeters tall. When I looked down, moderately large breasts filled my vision. Her skin was corpse-pale. Her hair was blood-red. Sharp fangs peeked between her lips.
"The progenitor of vampires. The eternal queen of the bloodsuckers. Vampire Seraphina. By the Management Bureau's measurements, she's as good as the root cause of apocalypse—she's driven this world to ruin dozens of times."
Her epithets were impressive. The spark that ignited the vampire apocalypse. The trigger for the end of the world. The true master of all vampires. Just hearing the titles was enough to make her sound terrifying.
"Why do you act thus? Have you come seeking Our aid?"
"Why do you act thus? Have you come seeking Our aid?"
"Why do you act thus? Have you come seeking Our aid?"
Even she had ultimately been consumed by the anomaly. The vampire queen simply repeated the same words over and over.
"Let's draw some blood. The blood of a powerful anomaly has all kinds of uses."
Following Senior's instructions, I picked up a syringe from the corner and approached Seraphina with it in hand.
Fuck, she's hot as hell.
I took in the vampire queen's appearance. Insanely sexy. She looked less like a queen and more like she'd been born to be a fucktoy. I forced down the erection trying to rise and stepped closer to the vampire.
If things go well, maybe I can take her with me.
I wanted this bitch at my side. World-ending anomaly or not, right now she was nothing but a meat toilet that had been eaten by another anomaly. But there were people around. I couldn't freely unleash my desires.
I brought the needle to Seraphina's forearm. Crimson blood filled the syringe to the brim.